CWC meeting seeks to repair cracks in citadel

Maqsood Maniyar | NT

Bengaluru: The Congress Working Committee (CWC) in Hyderabad on Saturday is likely to address infighting in the Karnataka unit of the party.

Prime among the irritants is the repeated and public sly digs on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah by MLC and permanent invitee to CWC BK Hariprasad.

The former Leader of the Opposition (LOP) in the Council has been miffed because he was excluded from the Cabinet by the CM, choosing to give an opportunity to another leader from the Ediga community (a caste of toddy tappers) in Madhu Bangarappa, who landed the primary and secondary education ministry.

Notably, Hariprasad was in Deputy CM DK Shivakumar’s camp. Both Siddaramaiah and Hariprasad are at the meeting and the party’s central leadership wants to sit them down and ask them to iron out the differences.

Back in July, at a function organised by fellow Edigas, and associated castes like Billavas and Deevaras, Hariprasad said that small Other Backward Classes (OBCs) were being marginalized within the party and had used strong language, not realizing that he was being recorded on a mobile phone.

On September 3, he once again threatened to take his struggle to the streets if the small OBC communities didn’t get the necessary representation.

On September 9, he repeated his tirades against Siddaramaiah, this time branding him a less than genuine socialist without really naming him.

He also made references to the CM wearing a Hublot watch and dhoti, an old controversy that Siddaramaiah had courted by wearing the branded timepiece.

This was too much for Siddaramaiah who approached the high command, asking them to take action against Hariprasad.

The All India Congress Committee (AICC) issued a letter to the MLC, asking him to explain his behaviour. Hariprasad is said to be keen on giving his reply to the central leadership in Hyderabad.

Tensions between Siddu, DKS camps

This also comes on a day when Co-operation Minister KN Rajanna suggested in public that there should be three more Deputy CMs, eliciting a sarcastic response from Bengaluru Rural MP and Shivakumar’s brother DK Suresh.

In the past, other ministers in Siddaramaiah’s camp MB Patil and HC Mahadevappa have suggested that Siddaramaiah would continue as CM for the full five-year term.

The high command has reportedly agreed to make Shivakumar the CM for the second half of the term. The CWC meeting also addressed preparations for the five Assembly elections in the months to come.

The programme was attended by AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress MPs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, former union minister Veerappa Moily, besides Shivakumar.